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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Laundry Room Curtain Tutorial

Last week I shared with you my "Laundry Room Makeover". I had a lace curtain hanging in the window that I needed wanted to replace and I'll show you with all my wonderful limited sewing skills, how you can do the same. If like me, you can make pillows and curtains with the help of a sewing machine, than that is all the sewing machine skill you will need for this project. I used a left over piece of "tea toweling by the yard" that I had purchased to make pillows for our porch. This wonderful fabric is available at Fabric Essentials online store. Pre-wash the fabric ahead of time. This toweling comes already hemmed along the edges, so you only have to hem the two short ends on your sewing machine. This is the only time you will need your machine.

Using safety pins, I pinned some white plastic rings found in the craft department at Walmart, along the top edge (make sure they are large enough to slip over your curtain rod). I started by putting one at each end, folded the fabric in half, and put one in the middle. Fold and put one halfway between the end ring and the middle ring and repeat until you have the amount of rings you think you will need.

I then pinned some fabric yo yo's that I had made last year and pinned these along the bottom egde of the fabric. Heather Bailey has an easy tutorial on how to make these here. I connected each yo yo with hand stitching before hand sewing to the curtain. Now you can simply slip the rings at the top of the curtain to a cafe curtain rod and hang it in the window to see if you like the way it hangs. If you need more rings to make it hang properly, you can add more.

You can see the pins holding the rings in the upper photo and the pins holding the yo yo's in place in the lower photo.

Now, simply hand sew the rings to the top of the curtain and the yo yo's to the bottom.

Slip the curtain back on the rod and you are ready to go!

Most of our company comes through the back garden gate and to our back door. They have to pass by this window as they come up on our porch. I have been scared too many time to mention while folding clothes in this room or the UPS guy comes up to to leave a package at our back door. I felt the need to make a lower curtain to save my sanity and my heart. I used one of the fabrics from the yo yo's so it would coordinate. Being the cheap thrifty person that I am, I only bought one yard which really isn't enough to make the curtain correctly. Here is the problem since I'm cheap thrifty; I'm not sure I like it enough to buy another yard to make two panels so that they can be slid back so a breeze can come in when the window is open. Maybe I should put the mini blind back up (I hate dislike cleaning blinds). Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated.

I can always make this lower curtain into a cute apron if I decide not to use it!

16 comments:

I've had that toweling source bookmarked since you shared it before. Now you've reminded me again so perhaps I'll get going with that. This is a great idea for curtains. They look wonderfully vintage and so charming. It is not fun to be surprised in your own home so this option should work well for you!

this little curtain is adorable...i love the vintage fabric and yoyos...your kitchen is lovely too...would like you to share this with my readers on fridays unfolded @ http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/2011/03/fridays-unfolded-12.html

Catherine, I love this curtain. You describe yourself as having limited sewing experience...well, it is a lot more then I could ever do....I have zippo experience in that department. : ) This is whimsical and wonderful.

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Take a stroll with me through whimsical folk art scenes depicting the lives of interesting people and their families, like 73 year old Mabel of Whitby Cottage who had to retire her bike to her garden. I enjoy writing simple stories about the everyday folk who inhabit these scenes. When you click on the scene, a little story tells you about the people who live there. My imagination comes alive as my brush works on the canvas and I dream of quaint little villages where I would want to work and live.......Or, you can simply consume one of my calorie free pieces of dessert yumminess!